Introduction

The Indian subcontinent boasts of serving as the natural habitat of a large and variedwildlife. The subcontinent with its varied geographical spread from the Himalayas inthe north to the Cauvery basin in the south and the Kutch region in the west to theplains of Assam in East present a diverse range of environmental conditions for some of the most magnificent as well as the rarest wildlife species of the world in India to exist.The beauty and variety we see in the jungles of India is difficult to be expressed inwords and I bring together the breadth through pictures in this project . However, thepast few decades have seen the greed and negligence of human beings working to thedetriment of this rich wildlife. Large-scale poaching, habitat destruction and conflict withhumans have resulted in a rapid decline in the population of most of the wild animalsand birds. Some animals like the Indian cheetah due to this are now extinct.Conservation of Indian wildlife was not given the requisite importance for a long time.However, the government as well as the people slowly and gradually understood their responsibility in this context. Today, efforts are being made towards wildlifeconservation in India, to preserve this natural wealth. Numerous wildlife conservationprojects have been undertaken in India, both at the government as well as the individuallevel, to protect the rich wildlife of the subcontinent. The private sector has also startedstepping in as part of their corporate social responsibility to bring about this change and increase peoples awareness. The Save the Tiger campaign by Aircelwhich isdiscussed here.I am a wildlife fan and have been to a fair number of national parks around the country.In this project I analyze the threat to wildlife in India and then extensively report theefforts of the government, societies, groups and individuals.

Wildlife

Panthera tigris. Wildlife traditionally refers to non-domesticated vertebrates, but has come to broadly reference to all wild plants, animals and other organisms . Domesticating wild plant and animal species for

human benefit has occurred many times all over the planet, and has a major impact on the environment, both positive and negative. Wildlife can be found in all ecosystems. Deserts, forests, rain forests, plains, grasslands, other areas including the most developed urban sites, all have distinct forms of wildlife. While the term in popular culture usually refers to animals that are untouched by human factors,[1] most scientists agree that wildlife around is impacted by human activities. Humans have historically tended to separate civilization from wildlife in a number of ways including the legal, social, and moral sense. Religions have often declared certain animals to be sacred, and in modern times concern for the natural environment has provoked activists to protest the exploitation of wildlife for human benefit or entertainment.

edit] Food, pets, and traditional medicines

Anthropologists believe that the Stone Age people and hunter-gatherers relied on wildlife, both plants and animals, for their food. In fact, some species may have been hunted to extinction by early human hunters. Today, hunting, fishing, and gathering wildlife is still a significant food source in some parts of the world. In other areas, hunting and non-commercial fishing are mainly seen as a sport or recreation, with the edible meat as mostly a side benefit.[citation needed] Meat sourced from wildlife that is not traditionally regarded as game is known as bush meat. The increasing demand for wildlife as a source of traditional food in East Asia is decimating populations of sharks, primates, pangolins and other animals, which they believe have aphrodisiac properties.

In November 2008, almost 900 plucked and "oven-ready" owls and other protected wildlife species were confiscated by the Department of Wildlife and National Parks in Malaysia, according to TRAFFIC. The animals were believed to be bound for China, to be sold in wild meat restaurants. Most are listed in CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) which prohibits or restricts such trade.

Malaysia is home to a vast array of amazing wildlife. However, illegal hunting and trade poses a threat to Malaysias natural diversity.
Chris S. Shepherd[2]

A November 2008 report from biologist and author Sally Kneidel, PhD, documented numerous wildlife species for sale in informal markets along the Amazon River, including wild-caught marmosets sold for as little as $1.60 (5 Peruvian soles).[3] Many Amazon species, including peccaries, agoutis, turtles, turtle eggs, anacondas, armadillos, etc., are sold primarily as food.

Others in these informal markets, such as monkeys and parrots, are destined for the pet trade, often smuggled into the United States. Still other Amazon species are popular ingredients in traditional medicines sold in local markets. The medicinal value of animal parts is based largely on superstition.

[edit] Religion
Many animal species have spiritual significance in different cultures around the world, and they and their products may be used as sacred objects in religious rituals. For example, eagles, hawks and their feathers have great cultural and spiritual value to Native Americans as religious objects.[4]

[edit] Tourism
Many countries have established their tourism sector around their natural wildlife. South Africa has, for example, many opportunities for tourists to see the country's wildlife in its National Parks, such as the Kruger Park.

[edit] Destruction

Map of early human migrations, according to mitochondrial population genetics. Numbers are millennia before the present. This subsection focuses on anthropogenic forms of wildlife destruction. Exploitation of wild populations has been a characteristic of modern man since our exodus from Africa 130,000 70,000 years ago. The rate of extinctions of entire species of plants and animals across the planet has been so high in the last few hundred years it is widely believed that we are in the sixth great extinction event on this planet; the Holocene Mass Extinction.

Destruction of wildlife does not always lead to an extinction of the species in question, however, the dramatic loss of entire species across Earth dominates any review of wildlife destruction as extinction is the level of damage to a wild population from which there is no return.[clarification
needed]

The four most general reasons that lead to destruction of wildlife include overkill, habitat destruction and fragmentation, impact of introduced species and chains of extinction.[5]

[edit] Overkill
Overkill happens whenever hunting occurs at rates greater than the reproductive capacity of the population is being exploited. The effects of this are often noticed much more dramatically in slow growing populations such as many larger species of fish. Initially when a portion of a wild population is hunted, an increased availability of resources (food, etc.) is experienced increasing growth and reproduction as density dependent inhibition is lowered. Hunting, fishing and so on, has lowered the competition between members of a population. However, if this hunting continues at rate greater than the rate at which new members of the population can reach breeding age and produce more young, the population will begin to decrease in numbers.[6] Populations that are confined to islands, whether literal islands or just areas of habitat that are effectively an island for the species concerned, have also been observed to be at greater risk of dramatic population declines following unsustainable hunting.

[edit] Habitat destruction and fragmentation

Deforestation and increased road-building in the Amazon Rainforest are a significant concern because of increased human encroachment upon wild areas, increased resource extraction and further threats to biodiversity. The habitat of any given species is considered its preferred area or territory. Many processes associated human habitation of an area cause loss of this area and decrease the carrying capacity of the land for that species. In many cases these changes in land use cause a patchy break-up of

the wild landscape. Agricultural land frequently displays this type of extremely fragmented, or relictual, habitat. Farms sprawl across the landscape with patches of uncleared woodland or forest dotted in-between occasional paddocks. Examples of habitat destruction include grazing of bushland by farmed animals, changes to natural fire regimes, forest clearing for timber production and wetland draining for city expansion.

[edit] Impact of introduced species

Mice, cats, rabbits, dandelions and poison ivy are all examples of species that have become invasive threats to wild species in various parts of the world[citation needed]. Frequently species that are uncommon in their home range become out-of-control invasions in distant but similar climates. The reasons for this have not always been clear and Charles Darwin felt it was unlikely that exotic species would ever be able to grow abundantly in a place in which they had not evolved. The reality is that the vast majority of species exposed to a new habitat do not reproduce successfully. Occasionally, however, some populations do take hold and after a period of acclimation can increase in numbers significantly, having destructive effects on many elements of the native environment of which they have become part.

[edit] Chains of extinction

This final group is one of secondary effects. All wild populations of living things have many complex intertwining links with other living things around them. Large herbivorous animals such as the hippopotamus have populations of insectivorous birds that feed off the many parasitic insects that grow on the hippo. Should the hippo die out, so too will these groups of birds, leading to further destruction as other species dependent on the birds are affected. Also referred to as a domino effect, this series of chain reactions is by far the most destructive process that can occur in any ecological community. Another example is the black drongos and the cattle egrets found in India. These birds feed on insects on the back of cattle, which helps to keep them disease-free. Destroying the nesting habitats of these birds would cause a decrease in the cattle population because of the spread of insect-borne diseases.

[edit] Media

The Douglas Squirrel (Tamiasciurus douglasii) is an example of wildlife. Wildlife has long been a common subject for educational television shows. National Geographic specials appeared on CBS beginning in 1965, later moving to ABC and then PBS. In 1963, NBC debuted Wild Kingdom, a popular program featuring zoologist Marlin Perkins as host.[7] The BBC natural history unit in the UK was a similar pioneer, the first wildlife series LOOK presented by Sir Peter Scott, was a studio-based show, with filmed inserts. It was in this series that David Attenborough first made his appearance which led to the series Zoo Quest during which he and cameraman Charles Lagus went to many exotic places looking for and filming[8] elusive wildlifenotably the Komodo dragon in Indonesia and lemurs in Madagascar. Since 1984, the Discovery Channel and its spin off Animal Planet in the US have dominated the market for shows about wildlife on cable television, while on PBS the NATURE strand made by WNET-13 in New York and NOVA by WGBH in Boston are notable. See also Nature documentary. Wildlife television is now a multi-million dollar industry with specialist documentary film-makers in many countries including UK, US, New Zealand NHNZ, Australia, Austria, Germany, Japan, and Canada. There are many magazines which cover wildlife including National Wildlife Magazine, Birds & Blooms, Birding (magazine), and Ranger Rick (for children).

Wildlife conservation

The Siberian tiger is a subspecies of tiger that is critically endangered; three subspecies of tiger are already extinct. Wildlife conservation is the practice of protecting endangered plant and animal species and their habitats. Among the goals of wildlife conservation are to ensure that nature will be around for future generations to enjoy and to recognize the importance of wildlife and wilderness lands to humans.[1] Many nations have government agencies dedicated to wildlife conservation, which help to implement policies designed to protect wildlife. Numerous independent nonprofit organizations also promote various wildlife conservation causes.[2] Wildlife conservation has become an increasingly important practice due to the negative effects of human activity on wildlife. The science of extinction. An endangered species is defined as a

population of a living being that is at the danger of becoming extinct because of several reasons. Either they are few in number or are threatened by the varying environmental or predation parameters.

Contents
[hide]

1 Major threats to wildlife 2 North American Model of Wildlife Conservation o 2.1 Public trust doctrine o 2.2 Non-frivolous use o 2.3 Wildlife as an international resource 3 Government involvement 4 Non-government involvement 5 Active non-government organizations 6 References 7 External links

[edit] Major threats to wildlife

Major threats to wildlife can be categorized as below:[3]

Habitat loss: Fewer natural wildlife habitat areas remain each year. Moreover, the habitat that remains has often been degraded to bear little resemblance to the wild areas which existed in the past. Climate change: Because many types of plants and animals have specific habitat requirements, climate change could cause disastrous loss of wildlife species. A slight insects are harmed and disturbed. Plants and wildlife are sensitive to moisture change so, they will be harmed by any change in moisture level. Pesticides and toxic chemical: Widely used, making the environment toxic to certain plants, insects, and rodents. Unregulated Hunting and poaching: Unregulated hunting and poaching causes a major threat to wildlife. Along with this, mismanagement of forest department and forest guards triggers this problem. Natural phenomena: Floods, earthquakes, volcanoes, lightning, forest fires. Pollution: Pollutants released into the environment are ingested by a wide variety of organisms. Over-exploitation of resources: Exploitation of wild populations for food has resulted in population crashes (over-fishing, for example)

[edit] North American Model of Wildlife Conservation

The North American Model of Wildlife Conservation is considered to be one the most successful conservation models in world.[citation needed] It has its origins in 19th century conservation movements, the near extinction of several species of wildlife (including the American Bison) and the rise of sportsmen with the middle class.[4][5] Beginning in the 1860s sportsmen began to organize and advocate for the preservation of wilderness areas and wildlife. The North American Model of Wildlife Conservation rests on two basic principles fish and wildlife are for the noncommercial use of citizens, and should be managed such that they are available at optimum population levels forever. These core principles are elaborated upon in the seven major tenets of the model.

[edit] Public trust doctrine

In the North American Model, wildlife is held in the public trust. This means that fish and wildlife are held by the public through state and federal governments. In other words, though an individual may own the land up which wildlife resides, that individual does not own said wildlife. Instead, the wildlife is owned by all citizens. With origins in Roman times and English Common law, the public trust doctrine has at its heart the 1842 Supreme Court ruling Martin V. Waddell.[5][6]

[edit] Non-frivolous use

Under the North American Model, the killing of game must be done only for food, fur, selfdefense, and the protection of property (including livestock). In other words, it is broadly regarded as unlawful and unethical to kill fish or wildlife (even with a license) without making all reasonable effort to retrieve and make reasonable use of the resource.[7][8]

[edit] Wildlife as an international resource

As wildlife do exist only within fixed political boundaries, effective management of these resources must be done internationally, through treaties and the cooperation of management agencies.[7][8]

[edit] Government involvement

The Wildlife Conservation Act was enacted by the Government of India in 1972. Soon after the trend of policy makers enacting regulations on conservation a strategy was developed to allow actors, both government and non-government, to follow a detailed "framework" to successful conservation. The World Conservation Strategy was developed in 1980 by the "International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources "(IUCN) with advice, cooperation and financial assistance of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Wildlife Fund and in collaboration with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco)"[9] The strategy aims to "provide an intellectual framework and practical guidance for conservation actions."[9] This thorough guidebook covers everything from the intended "users" of

the strategy to its very priorities and even a map section containing areas that have large seafood consumption therefore endangering the area to over fishing. The main sections are as follows:

The objectives of conservation and requirements for their achievement:

1. Maintenance of essential ecological processes and life-support systems. 2. Preservation of genetic diversity. 3. Sustainable utilization of species and ecosystems.

Priorities for national action:

1. A framework for national and subnational conservation strategies. 2. Policy making and the integration of conservation and development. 3. Environmental planning and rational use allocation.

Priorities for international action:

1. International action: law and assistance. 2. Tropical forests and drylands. 3. A global programme for the protection of genetic resource areas. Map sections: 1. Tropical forests 2. Deserts and areas subject to desertification.

[edit] Non-government involvement

As major development agencies became discouraged with the public sector of environmental conservation in the late 1980s, these agencies began to lean their support towards the private sector or non-government organizations (NGOs).[10] In a World Bank Discussion Paper it is made apparent that the explosive emergence of nongovernmental organizations was widely known to government policy makers. Seeing this rise in NGO support, the U.S. Congress made amendments to the Foreign Assistance Act in 1979 and 1986 earmarking U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) funds for biodiversity.[10] From 1990 moving through recent years environmental conservation in the NGO sector has become increasingly more focused on the political and economic impact of USAID given towards the Environment and Natural Resources.[11] After the terror attacks on the World Trade Centers on September 11, 2001 and the start of former President Bushs War on Terror, maintaining and improving the quality of the environment and natural resources became a priority to prevent international tensions according to the Legislation on Foreign Relations Through 2002[11] and section 117 of the 1961 Foreign Assistance Act.[11] Furthermore in 2002 U.S. Congress modified the section on endangered species of the previously amended Foreign Assistance Act. Sec. 119.100 Endangered Species:

(a) The Congress finds the survival of many animals and plant species is endangered by over hunting, by the presence of toxic chemicals in water, air and soil, and by the destruction of habitats. The Congress further finds that the extinction of animal and plant species is an irreparable loss with potentially serious environmental and economic consequences for developing and developed countries alike. Accordingly, the preservation of animal and plant species through the regulation of the hunting and trade in endangered species, through limitations on the pollution of natural ecosystems, and through the protection of wildlife habitats should be an important objective of the United States development assistance. (b) 100 In order to preserve biological diversity, the President is authorized to furnish assistance under this part, notwithstanding section 660,101 to assist countries in protecting and maintaining wildlife habitats and in developing sound wildlife management and plant conservation programs. Special efforts should be made to establish and maintain wildlife sanctuaries, reserves, and parks; to enact and enforce anti-poaching measures; and to identify, study, and catalog animal and plant species, especially in tropical environments.[11] The amendments to the section also included modifications on the section concerning "PVOs and other Nongovernmental Organizations."[11] The section requires that PVOs and NGOs "to the fullest extent possible involve local people with all stages of design and implementation."[11] These amendments to the Foreign Assistance Act and the recent[when?] rise in USAID funding towards foreign environmental conservation have led to several disagreements in terms of NGOs' role in foreign development.